A Documentary: Telling The Stories Of Chinese Elderly Migration In New Zealand

The documentary film is a nonfictional motion picture to support some aspect of the world, mainly for the purposes of keeping the real record, let people see the real story through the camera. The documentary was originally called ‘actually’ movies and was just one time or less at the size and help people in understanding the new reality because of some of the free documentaries film the last events that occurred and impacted the entire world. That’s why I want to film a documentary about Invisible barriers for Chinese elderly immigrants in New Zealand. I want this documentary start with an interview. An old lady talking about her life after migrant with her family, bring her life to people’s eyes. My main protagonist will be a female old lady will bring an unseen community into the spotlight, rendered invisible by their migrant status and age. The main reason why I want to do this is that as we all know New Zealand is a great country for older person wellbeing and that makes me realize that not too much people notice the elderly Chinese immigrants who are struggling to settle into New Zealand society. The elderly immigrants are facing many problems, such as language, cultural conflicts and lack of identity. They usually immigrated with their children to help raise their grandchildren. When we talking with an elderly person, we will often find that their memories of their formative years are far stronger than the memories of the past 50 years. They cherish the memory of the familiar for the old times. Sometimes, It can be harder for elderly immigrants to acceptance of cultural differences, especially with food, routines, and rituals. To me, this is a quite unique story of immigrant grandparents who come here to take care of their grandchildren while their adult children went work, knowingly sacrificing the familiarity of their own homes and language for their future generations to thrive. In addition, I’d also long been obsessed with the elderly Chinese grandparents of Wellington, they always chattering away at bus stops, catching on the bus, and lugging their colorful trolley bags behind them. They do their daily routine of catching the bus to the Asian supermarkets and meet a group rendered invisible not only by their migrant status but also by their age. This is an often-untold perspective of those who do not socialize but nevertheless are as much New Zealanders as they are Chinese.

In my project, the key element is the social agenda. Thus, Massey University’s sociologist Paul Spoonley said ‘Loneliness is the main problem for the old people. If they don’t speak English, then these Chinese elderly people are prone to lack of social and friends. Community centers and some activities for them is really good but not a substitute for family companionship.’ Exactly, these Chinese elderly people are easy to lack social and have no friends because they can not speak English. Speak English is an insurmountable obstacle for older people who have no education. These elderly people cannot actively socialize because of language communication barriers, cultural background barriers or lack of self-confidence. It is obviously not enough for society to help them in many ways. Even though someone grows up in the cultural atmosphere of New Zealand, aging will be a problem, not to mention the lack of cultural integration and self-identity. The problem is even more serious. Moreover, Cultural conflicts for elderly people may increase as they age. I am beginning to realize that maybe I can film a documentary about this isolated group so that more people will know and pay attention to such a group. This documentary is based on the elderly Chinese immigrants in New Zealand, it can show that China as an immigration source country, with a population of 1.5 billion, China is naturally one of the biggest migration source countries in New Zealand. According to New Zealand’s latest census, by 2038, the number of Chinese elderly over 65 years old who have settled in New Zealand will increase to nearly 70,000. From my point of view, the main reason why more and more Chinese people decided to leave and move to another country is that the large population leads to lack of resources, especially premium resources in the education and healthcare problems. The polluted environment and the distorted education system are also concerns by many parents. Typical Chinese are not so adventurous, but we don’t lack curiosity either. After so many years of isolation from the rest of the world, we have a strong appetite to get out and explore. Popular poetry gives prime examples of this in their lyrics ‘Beyond the pots and pans in the present life, there should be poetry and the far afield.’; or ‘Living in a house towards the sea, with spring blossoms.’ From what I can see, compared to ten years ago, there are more Chinese restaurants representing the different cuisines found all over China; there are also more Chinese grocery shops where you can get any ingredients to make traditional Chinese dishes. Many stores are now stocked with all kinds of Chinese brands such as Huawei, Xiaomi, Haier and others that have gradually become household names in New Zealand. All of the above has greatly added to the way of New Zealander’s life. It can be seen that the absorption of society has obvious actions and influences so that we can divide the social impact of immigration into three aspects: economic, cultural and political.

Chinese, in general speaking, they are hardworking, law-abiding citizens. Normally, we pay too much attention to the next generations, including their education, wellbeing and even daily life. In Chinese culture also lays the responsibility of looking after the elderly family members which ease the overall demand on the public healthcare system. Also, as like any other strong cultures with a long history, the Chinese take great proud in their culture and bring it with them wherever they go. Take the film Pushing Hands as an example. In Pushing Hands, Mr. Chu who is a retired Tai Chi master from China and he moved to America to live with his son Alex. However, his son is married with Martha who is an American writer, suffering from writer’s block when her Chinese father-in-law moves in. She’s like a fish out of water. The traditional Chinese father who has a different mode of thinking that finds it challenging to adjust to life in the American suburbs. Mr. Chu does not speak English and can barely communicate with his American daughter-in-law, who reacts to his traditional practices with despise and skepticism. As misunderstanding and hostility grows between the two people, his son finds himself trapped between love for his wife and dedication to being a filial son to his father. In a way, that represents the conflict between the two different culture, which is meaning that two different values. His son feels a strong sense of guilt and responsibility towards his father and he finds it very difficult to measure the ensuing conflicts between his Chinese upbringing and cultural roots, and the demands of his wife, which represent his adopted American and Western identity. Martha also feels alienated as whenever father and son converse in Chinese, she feels isolated and unable to understand and participate in their world. This is a great example that two people have different background and age, the conflict is very serious and hard to balance.

In addition, this key element in my project I want to use the POINT protocol to analysis it. First of all, the positives part is about this key element that when this documentary is finished more people might get to know this invisible group and try to understand their situation and pay more attention to such a group. Secondly, the aspect of opportunities is that facing all kind of story behind them, not only I can discover the aspect of cultural differences and concepts, there are also many problems associated with them, which can attract and inspire audiences. However, the issues might be the lack of creativity, I don’t want everything to be a stereotype, the main issue will be finding the main protagonist and dig the story from the protagonist and I hope it’s an eye-catching story.

In general, the social agenda is an important part of the discussion around the whole project, and the entire framework of the documentary is built on this. These elderly people came to New Zealand in various ways. Some of them are well integrated into the mainstream community, but most of the elderly are still limited by language, culture and other factors outside the mainstream society. I hope this film can manage to balance the conflict between this lack of full integration and the universal themes of family, sacrifice, and community all based on the social agenda. Also, I hope that through this documentary, more people will hear the voice of Chinese elderly immigrants and arouse public attention to this group.